Why is Infection Control Important? Infection control is very important in the health care profession. It’s very important that we as a dental assistant make sure we follow the guidelines to protect the patient, the community and ourselves. Health care professionals, who do not practice proper infection control, can expose multiple bacteria and diseases to others. The main objective is to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases from both patients and health personnel. Today, infection control is a continuous concern for its professionals. We have to contact patients routinely and be exposed to their blood, saliva, dental plaque and pus that may contain infectious pathogens. It is important for the dental professionals to treat these fluids as if they are infectious and take special precautions when handling them. In this essay, I will go in detail of infection control practices in dental clinics and how infectious microorganisms are transmitted in the dental clinic. Also, I will talk about some infection control guidelines that are important in dental clinics and how to protect the dental professional environment and dental professions. There are two types of diseases that dental professions should be aware of which are communicable disease and disease transmission. Communicable disease is one that is spread from one person to another through a variety of ways that include: contact with blood and bodily fluids; breathing in an airborne virus; or by being bitten
Dental hygienists examine for signs of abnormalities oral diseases, for example decay or gingivitis, then they will provide treatment if necessary. They play an important role in evaluate patients’ oral health and interpret findings for the dentists. Also, Dental Hygienists educate patients how to keep their oral healthy. It is obvious that Dental Hygienists have to work by hands all the time; therefore, they are required to keep their hand totally clean and get them sterilized before and after each patients. They have to wear protection tools including safety glasses, masks, and gloves to prevent infection for themselves and patients (Bureau of Labor
1.1 Explain employees’ roles and responsibilities in relation to the prevention and control of infection
Blood and saliva borne bacteria are mainly the reason for some serious infectious diseases (Szymanska, 2005, Martin et al., 2009). For example, Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a known virus that may be contracted in dental clinics. Investigation of the presence of the virus in the oral fluids of hepatitis B carriers showed that %70 of their sample were infectious (Molinari & Harte, 2010). The greatest concentration of the HBV is under the gingival sulucs where this area is inflamed routinely and allows blood to mix
Poor hand hygiene - spread of germs from one patient to another or spread for hands to surfaces.
Pathogens are everywhere. They are in people, animals, and the environment. Pathogens come in a wide variety. The types are fungal, bacterial, viral, and other parasites. All pathogens can be dangerous, but two of them are more dangerous. These two types that more dangerous are fungal and bacterial. While both fungal and bacterial pathogens cause illness, they differ in the way they are transmitted, the way they are treated, and the diseases they cause.
However, everybody who has contact with the patient or the environment is entitled to relevant information that will enable them to reduce the risks of transmission to
There are two important things to do in a dental office in order to prevent cross infection. These two forms are sterilization and disinfection. According to the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration before either of these forms can be used you have to clean the instruments. This can be done either by hand or by using an ultrasonic cleaner.
While shadowing my fellow upper cohorts during the clinic I had made many observations. Unfortunately I was only able to shadow one clinic, although I observed a lot. Marie was the first student that I was shadowing, she was the CA for the day. We started by stocking the cabinets with the necessities. Marie and I then took the dental tools out of the machines that cleaned, sterilized, and dried them. I was shown that there are two sides in the lab. What I mean by this is that the left side is a dirty side which you should always wear gloves so that you are always protected from the bacteria and germs that the tools carry. Everything on this side has to be handled carefully and you must always wash and sanitize your hands when you are through. The right side is the clean side where the tools and dental accessories are kept so that they stay clean and sterile. Next I was with Jennifer, although she had no patients that day due to a
1.1: Employees rights and responsibilities in the relation to the prevention and control of infection are to follow company’s policies and procedures, keep themselves safe and others, report any hazards which could lead to infection, attend relevant courses, use the PPE provided, keeping the work environment clean and tidy and to maintain good personal hygiene
| UNIT 4222- 264 THE PRINCIPLES OF INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL | | | |
The Centers for Disease Control is advertising a campaign that is trying to persuade people to get the flu vaccination shot for themselves and their children. It will be told what techniques they are using to persuade these people to get the shot.
The patient was keen to get her oral hygiene up to a good standard and prevent any
Hospital acquired infections are one of the most common complications of care in the hospital setting. Hospital acquired infections are infections that patients acquired during the stay in the hospital. These infections can cause an increase number of days the patients stay in the hospital. Hospital acquired infections makes the patients worse or even causes death. “In the USA alone, hospital acquired infections cause about 1.7 million infections and 99,000 deaths per year”(secondary).
Hands were wet by a running tap and antiseptic detergents or liquid soap (5ml was poured onto the hands, the technique consisted of five backwards and forwards strokes in the motion of; palm to palm, each palm over the other hand’s back, interlocking palm to palm, each palm over the other hand’s back interlocked and then the rotational scrubbing of the fingers into each palm finalised by the rubbing of the wrists during a 30-second time span. Then the hands were rinsed with water for 15-seconds and dried with two paper towels for 15-seconds. (Ayliffe et all, 1978) Whilst this technique has strict timescales the WHO elects the timescale of roughly the time taken to sing “Happy Birthday” twice. This raises concerns over the approximates as this will differ from person to person. The procedure itself remains nearly exact except from the addition of turning the tap off with a towel to avoid recontamination and the exact timings are lost. This technique only stated to use running water, however no temperature was specified. Hand Washing for Life (200-) advises that water should not be above 110F as this temperature would cause hands become damaged by loosing delicate tissues on the skin. This can cause bacteria to become trapped and more difficult to remove, as well as cause pain to the worker. It is a legal requirement for health professions to take the necessary measures to
Because improvements in nutrition and sanitation have been made, many epidemics have ended. As longevity of life increases, chronic diseases have taken the place of infectious disease as the leading cause of death. The different modes of transmission, disease development, and disease spectrum are all important factors to consider when studying the transmission of communicable diseases. It is also important to know about emerging infectious diseases. It is important to be aware of these diseases so that signs of these symptoms can be easily recognizable to provide the best patient care.